The Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, on Thursday, accused the Federal Government of playing politics with the national security.
Dickson further alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari was not personally in charge of the country’s critical security architecture.
The governor said Buhari’s failures to be in charge of the nation’s security and engage critical stakeholders was the reason why APC leaders were playing politics with security.
Dickson in a press statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Francis Ottah Agbo, said some APC chieftains had taken advantage of the dysfunctional and imperfect federal structure to hijack the security architecture.
He lamented that they were using the security structures to torment innocent citizens for their selfish ends and by so doing , causing national insecurity.
Dickson said the wind of insecurity blowing across the nation and particularly the upsurge in herdsmen/farmers clashes were fueled by politicisation of security by the Federal Government.
He, therefore, called on Buhari to personally handle security matters and engage state governors with a view to knowing their specific challenges in the various states.
Dickson also called on the President to call his party leaders especially, persons in Bayelsa State to order; to desist from sponsoring insecurity in the sate.
He said some APC leaders in the state were using the name of the President to compromise security by intimidating security agencies, stockpiling arms and ammunition, killing and ransacking communities at will.
The governor said he formally reported the matter to the President and relevant authorities but lamented that instead of bringing the perpetrators to book, the Federal Government, to his utmost chagrin, not only shielded the criminals from prosecution but provided them with security.
The said: “These APC leaders exploit the fact that Mr. President is not personally involved in the handling of national security to breach national peace and security .
“They know that he is not in charge of the critical issues of national security because he is not personally handling them the way he should.
“So they take advantage of the President’s attitude and the dysfunctional Nigeria state to intimidate and blackmail security agencies for their selfish interest and in the process, endanger the safety of lives and property of Nigerians.
“These APC leaders use the name of the President to sponsor criminals to unleash savage violence on innocent citizens. Their aim is to cause panic and force them to align with them.
“A case in point is in Bayelsa State where some APC leaders hide under the protection of the Federal Government to stockpile arms and ammunition to maim and kill innocent citizens just to instill fear in them.
”I have personally reported this to Mr. President and to the best of my knowledge, there has not been any decisive action from him or the Federal Government.
“Instead of prosecuting these criminals, the Federal Government has beefed up security around them. The politicisation of national security must stop for there can be no country without security!”
The governor also condemned the recent killings across the country and warned that the country would cease to have a future if the Federal Government failed to urgently unite the peoples of Nigeria to avert the nationwide senseless killings.
He stressing that the country was more than ever before too divided and unstable under the APC- led Federal Government. - The Nation
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